Yes Bank Q4 net loss widens marginally

 

Private lender Yes Bank's standalone net loss widened marginally to Rs 3,788 crore in the March quarter of FY21 as against net loss of Rs 3,668 crore a year ago. The lender posted net profit of Rs 148 crore in the December quarter.

Deposits rose 55 per cent on an annual basis to Rs 1.62 trillion. Net interest income declined 23 per cent to Rs 987 crore as against Rs 1,274 crore in the year-ago period.

"FY21 was the year of rebuilding the foundation of YES Bank. Bank demonstrated significant improvement in performance across key indicators despite severe headwinds of Covid-19 and moratorium imposed on the bank in March 2020," the lender said on Friday in a stock exchange filing.

Provisions rose 7.5 per cent during the quarter to Rs 5,240 crore as compared to Rs 4,872 crore in March 2020.

Despite elevated slippages, the bank has prudently made accelerated provisioning reflected in the Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) for NPA at 79 per cent, said YES Bank.

On Friday, the bank's scrip on NSE closed 0.7% higher at Rs 14.60.

During the quarter, the total income of the bank declined to Rs 4,805.30 crore from Rs 5,818.59 crore in the same period a year ago, Yes Bank said in a regulatory filing.

At the same time, provisions (other than tax expense) and contingencies rose to Rs 5,239.59 crore as compared to Rs 4,872.34 crore.

On the asset front, the bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as of March 31, 2021 stood at 15.41 per cent of the gross advances, slightly down from 16.80 per cent in the year-ago period.

However, net NPAs rose to 5.88 per cent from 5.03 per cent in the year-ago period.

For the full 2020-21 fiscal, the bank narrowed its net loss to Rs 3,462.23 crore from a loss as high as Rs 16,418.02 crore in the previous year.

Total income during the year also witnessed a decline to Rs 23,382.56 crore from Rs 29,508.10 crore a year ago.

The bank said proactive provisioning of Rs 250 crore towards COVID-19 related restructuring (Rs 2,500 crore) is expected to be implemented in first quarter of the current fiscal.

"Deferred tax asset of Rs 9,354 crore as at March 31, 2021 is carried in the balance sheet, as basis financial projections approved by the Board of Directors, there is reasonable certainty of having sufficient taxable income to enable realization of the said deferred tax asset as specified in Accounting Standard 22 (Accounting for Taxes on Income)," it said.

The current second wave of COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reimposition of localised lockdowns in various parts of the country, it said, adding the extent to which the pandemic will impact the bank's results will depend on ongoing as well as future developments, which are highly uncertain.

On March 5, 2020, the Reserve Bank had imposed a moratorium on the troubled private sector lender, including capping withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per depositor, after it found that the new management was unable to raise the urgent core capital which had fallen much below the mandated level.

Later, the Union Cabinet cleared a rescue package for the bank involving a Rs 7,250 crore investment by the State Bank of India (SBI). Four private lenders also committed an additional Rs 3,100 crore as part of the rescue plan.